The pros and cons of Confucian values in transport infrastructure development in China

Abstract

China's economic growth and the high pace with which it plans and constructs its infrastructure networks have led to a renewed interest in its decision-making models and the Confucian values which are believed to underlie it. This article makes an attempt to show what these Confucian values entail, through what mechanisms they influence organisational and decision-making processes, what their positive and negative sides are, to what extent they permeate transport infrastructure planning in China and why it is not easy or straightforward to emulate these policy practices elsewhere. Adopting certain features imbued with Confucian values, such as aspects of collectivism, conceptions of the common good, moral reflection and empathy are not pointless in a non-Asian context, but the specific context of such ‘other’ institutional environments must always be taken into account. Asian countries have grown stronger by selectively learning Western lessons; Western countries could reinforce the performance of their planning and policy-making processes in the future by looking eastwards and drawing inspiration from them while acknowledging vital differences.